Le vampire de l'espace

Never trust movies that show clips and fragments of exciting gory killings and slimy monster action during the opening credits. It certainly won't mean that you're about to witness this, or any other exhilarating gore, footage in the main feature. This is just another shameless gimmicky trick of the legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman to promote his other work. The credits contain footage of classic Corman produced trash, like "Humanoids from the Deep" and "Forbidden World", but furthermore there's no added value to it. "Not of this Earth", the first of two remakes of Roger Corman's own late 50's quickie with the same title, is a fairly charming Sci-Fi flick that completely exploits (and I'm very grateful for it) the ravishing body curves of former adult film star Traci Lords. Sleazy perverts as they are; producers Roger Corman and director Jim Wynorski grab every possible opportunity to slide the camera down Mrs. Lords' tantalizing body and obviously there are numerous completely gratuitous nudity sequences of herself as well as of others voluptuous soft-core starlets like Rebecca LeBeau, Roxanne Kernohan and Ava Cadell. Traci stars as a lurid private nurse giving blood transfusions to the mysteriously behaving Mr. Johnson. He turns out to be an alien scout on a mission to collect earthly beings – preferably prostitutes and stripper girls with massive racks – and send their blood through to another dimension in five different phases, or something like that. Admittedly I wasn't continuously paying full attention to the plot, but I blame Traci Lords' revealing outfits for that. "Not of this Earth" is an insignificant 80's Sci-Fi film, but nonetheless charming and cheesy enough to entertain fans of the genre.

This was a cheesy remake of the cheesy original "Not Of This Earth". They seem to have kept the plot and most of the dialogue intact while throwing in a lot of large-busted topless nudity. All that made it memorable for me was Traci Lords starting a "legitimate" film career after fooling a lot of people for a long time. While she's no Meryl Streep, she has talent and an undeniable screen presence. I think her previous career has limited her opportunities....but without it, how many opportunities would she have had? Back to the movie...I think they had fun making it, and left in some bloopers for viewers to find. Look for the scene where a car door is shut and you can see one of the crew, holding a boom mike, reflected in the shiny metal.

Not of this Earth is actually a really good b-movie. Im not a movie critic, so i dont know what actually constitutes a good movie by their standards but I do enjoy watching movies and telling about them. This movie is guaranteed to keep you entertained. the acting is really quite good, as well as, Traci Lords is super hott and has a great body. I think i like her better in actual movies. plus Lenny Juliano plays a good part in this flick. In my opinion he is a great character actor, he brings just enough comedy to every movie to keep you paying attention to him. I believe this is one of Jim Wynorski's best movies. but this is definetely not a movie for children. Its not scary or gruesome but there is a good bit of nudity and sex scenes. I rate this movie at least a 7 out of 10.

Remakes can't be all that bad… as in 1957 Roger Corman brought us the b/w low-budget sci-fi classic "Not of this Earth". Director / writer Jim Wynorski would convince Corman to allow him remake it (and just under a decade later another remake of this tale came on the scene). Where the film would gain much attention for and eventually become a cult favourite would be the bold casting of the highly delectable Traci Lords in her first major feature film. Don't let it fool you that she started off in porn films (and infamously being underage too), because even here she shows how much of a talented "actress" she was. Truly committed to the material (despite the daft nature), but Wynorski also took advantage of her risqué image to show off her titillating body and she wasn't shy of it either. She truly played it up for the camera. Lords is excellent in her portrayal as headstrong nurse Nadine Story who's hired by the very strange Mr. Johnson to perform his blood transfusions. There's something that's not quite right, so Nadine begins to investigate as secretly her boss is a space being looking to see if his dying race could survive while harvesting off the fresh blood of the human race.

This snappy, sexy contemporary late-night b-flick revamp is a complete blast from start to finish. Even though its low-budget restraints show up, it doesn't get in its way and director Wynorski keeps it economical, without losing any of the old-fashion enthusiasm (just listen to that spaced-out music score). Even with its sleazy jabs (leering topless female shots) and jarring jolts (some ghastly attack scenes with some slasher traits to them), beneath (just remember what decade it was made) it still had the spirit and atmosphere of those old-school sci-fi horror outings Corman was churning out early in his career. Special effects are cheap, but crisply done for its minimal approach and so were the optical effects. The silly material keeps it rather tongue-in-cheek, plenty of wisecracks with biting dialogues and some amusingly noticeable in-jokes especially regarding Lord's porn past. The acting fairs up. Arthur Roberts is effortlessly good as the expressionless Mr. Johnston --- with those glowing blue eyes under the shades and the sensitive hearing. Lenny Juliano, Ace Mask and Robert Lodge are amusingly acceptable. Other than Lords, there's plenty of buxom ladies showing up; Monique Gabrielle, Ava Cadell, Cynthia Thompson and Rebecca Perle. Also the perky Becky LeBeau is quite memorable and furthermore looking good in a nurse outfit is Kelli Maroney.

I was amused by the oddly placed collection of clips from Corman produced features that showed up in the film's opening intro.

Gimmicky, but fast-moving and campy b-fun.

Truly stunning how such a cheap & rubbish plot can provide such a good & entertaining movie! The answer to this lies in the great performances of all main actors involved: Arthur Roberts, Traci Lords and Lenny Juliano. Each of them adapting very well to the sinister touch of this movie, each of them contributing to it. Their performances get extra depth by the down-to-earth play by Ace Mask (doctor) and Roger Lodge (policeman). Also added are a touch of sex and humor (birthday girl). As I said, the overall result is downright good. More so, 'Not from this earth' is a great B-movie.